Randall

compiled and copyright by MJP Grundy, 2002Nicotiana tabacum, from Chambers's
Encyclopædia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People
(Phila.: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1885), 9:462.

This page tells the story of Christopher Randall (d. 1684/5), his son Thomas (1684-1722), and Thomas's daughter Urath (1713/4-1793), and their families. I am hopeful that readers may be able to help provide more information about them, and their English forebears. If you have documentation, I would be very grateful if you would get in touch with me at .

It is difficult to discover the English connection for our Randall line. There are several suggested birth dates and places on the LDS Familysearch, but none offer any proof. For example, Christopher, son of Richard and Elizabeth, was christened at St. Mary Le Wigford, Linconshire, on 29 June 1641. Alternatively, Christopher, son of Richard and Mary, was christened at Thrigby, Norfolk, on 3 Jan 1647.[1] Were either of these our ancestor? I have no idea.

There is an ambitious DNA project underway to determine the relationships among various Randolph, FitzRandolph, Randall, and Randle families in the USA. So far about 75 men have provided DNA for the project. Surprisingly, they've found that some of the Randolphs were actually FitzRandolphs that dropped the Fitz from their name, and some Randolphs were actually Randalls and vice versa. If any of the male descendants of the Christopher Randall on this page are willing to provide DNA to find out if there's a match with any of the Randalls who have already had tests made, the project would gladly pay for the test. Contact Billie Harris at hainbillie @ sbcglobal.net (close up the spaces in the e mail address).

First Known Generation

Christopher Randall1 first appeared in Baltimore County records in November 1675 when he witnessed a deed. Christopher died in early 1684/5. He married 31 January 1677/8 Johanna (__), the widow of George NORMAN.

A Christopher Randall was transported to Maryland in 1660 or in 1673, probably the latter. Presumably the earlier date was another man of the same name. There is a record of Christopher Randall "reprieved for transportation for Barbados" in London, September 1672. This seems to imply that he was convicted of some crime and had his sentence commuted to transportation to the New World. It is quite possible he was sent to the West Indies and if there was no market for him there, then he could have been taken to Maryland. Or our man could have been the one transported in 1660, as an indentured servant. Or he could have been someone else altogether. In any event, our ancestor was in Baltimore County by November 1675 when he witnessed a deed to Anthony DEMONDIDIER.[2]

Christopher courted Johanna, the widow of George NORMAN. George had died in 1677, probably shortly before 1 September 1677 when Matthew HOWARD and James SMITH appraised his estate. Christopher's and Johanna's wedding on 31 January 1677/8 was performed by Anthony DEMONDIDIER, a justice of the peace for Baltimore County (and the man whose deed Christopher had witnessed a bit more than two years earlier). Johanna's remarriage was probably only a little more than five months after George's death. Edward LUNN brought an action against the marriage on the grounds that Demondidier had not published the banns; there was a reward for informing on "misconduct". But as Lunn waited too long to bring his action, the case was dismissed, charges were dropped, and Demondidier was allowed to recover 1,031 pounds of tobacco from Lunn.[3] Marriage was economically critical for successfully accomplishing the tasks of living, so another marriage was usually arranged soon after the death of a spouse. Aristocratic Maryland colonists derided lower class folks for remarrying so quickly. Upper class folks thought that waiting one year and a day after the death of a spouse was an adequate and proper length of time.

Whatever Christopher's status had been by birth or when he first arrived in Maryland, in time he managed to acquire land. The following tracts were surveyed for him in Anne Arundel County: 5.5 acre "Randall's Fancy" on 8 July 1679; 102 or 103 acre "Randall's Purchase" on 23 April 1680, both on the north side of the Severn River; 100 acre "Randall's Range" on 17 July 1680 (or 7 July 1681) on the Magothy River. Christopher's descendants lived in Baltimore County, where their presence is preserved in the name of Randallstown.[4]

Christopher died intestate probably in February 1684/5 because letters of administration to settle his estate were granted on 25 February to his widow. The estate was inventoried 20 March by Matthew HOWARD (apparently no relation to our ancestor of the same name) and Francis MEADE, who named Christopher's wife as "Joan", although in the will she is spelled Johanna. It was not uncommon in the seventeenth century to have these orthographic variations. The estate was valued at £14.9.8 plus 4,090 pounds of tobacco. A major debtor was Richard Owings, brother-in-law of Christopher's son Thomas Randall. Debts were owed to Stephen HENWACKE, John BREEVER, Richard OWINGS, and Adam SHIPLEY (who lived at "Shipley's Choice" on the eastern shore of the Severn across from Annapolis). Heirs were Christopher Jr., Thomas, and "a sister". (I wonder if she was Christopher's daughter Hannah?) The final administration was filed 5 August 1686. As a side light on the informal system of debts and credit throughout white Chesapeake society, the estate of Nicholas PAINTER, who died in December 1684 and was valued at £251.1.2 (which was worth considerably more than Christopher's), owed money to Christopher.[5]

Johanna married for a third time, before 28 May 1701, John GADSBY. All three of the Randall tracts were eventually held by John Gadsby. On 29 March 1708 Johanna joined with John to sell several pieces of real estate.[6]

Christopher Randall, Jr., b. ca. 1682; d. 2 Feb. 1734; m. ca. 1719 Anne CHEW, daughter of William and Sidney (WYNNE) Chew [Anne was b. ca. 1704 and m(2) James BURK]. Christopher was appointed by Gov. Charles CALVERT in 1723 justice of the peace in Balt. Co., and reappointed 3 Mar. 1726. He inherited "Randall's Fancy" and purchased a lot more land, including "Good Fellowship". Christopher was church warden at St. Paul's 1722-23 and in the Vestry 1724-26. Christopher Randall Jr. was one of the Colonial Justices of the Baltimore County Court in the year 1723. The family continued to be actively involved in local politics through the next half-century, all the way up to the Revolutionary period.[10] His will, signed 23 Sept 1734, was proved 28 Mar. 1735; filed in Baltimore; it named these children:

a) Roger Randall,
b) Aquila Randall, b. 1723; d. 1801; m. Margaret BROWNE, daughter of Joshua Browne (Joshua b. 1698 in Balt. Co., son of Thomas, known as the "Ranger of the Patuxent" who acquired "Ranter's Ridge" near Woodstock -- near current day Randallstown -- as a land grant "to keep watch on the Indians" at the headwaters of the Patuxent River); Aquila and Margaret had children.[10a]
c) John Randall, inherited the Anne Arundel tract; called Capt.; he had a "flat" from which a man fell and was drowned in 1731.[10b]
d) Johanna Randall,
e) Rachel Randall,
f) Ruth Randall,
g) Susannah Randall, apparently another daughter not named in the will.[11]

Second Known Generation

Thomas Randall2, the youngest child of Christopher and Johanna, was born about 1684 and died in 1722. He was an infant when his father died. He married Hannah BALE, sometimes spelled Beal or Beall.

Thomas was listed as a taxable on the South Side of Patapsco Hundred, Baltimore County, in 1706. He and his brother Christopher administered the estate of John GADSBY, their step-father, 20 August 1711.[12]

Sometime after his step-father's death the family moved (ca. 1719) to northwest Baltimore County, where the area known as Randallstown preserves their name. Christopher and Thomas opened a tavern on a dirt toll road, which would eventually become Liberty Pike.[13]

The Randall family was closely connected with the families of Thomas and Anthony BALE, or Beal, Hannah's brothers. Urath Bale named her aunt, Hannah Randall, in her will. Both brothers left real estate to Hannah.[14]

The area still had some Susquehannock and Shawnee inhabitants. As their lands were encroached, game diminished. They had very different understanding of ownership and use of land and resources, and were blamed for depredations of settler livestock. From time to time they understandably showed hostility to the settlers. In 1695 Fort Garrison was constructed off the Conewago Road. It is a small stone blockhouse, still standing, but surrounded by suburban housing tracts. The road was an Indian trail between Baltimore and Hanover, widened into a wagon road in 1737. Today it is Reisterstown Road.[15]

Thomas had a number of real estate dealings. On 2 August 1709 John CHRISTIAN conveyed "Christian's Lot" (originally granted in 1696), adjacent to "Expectations", to Thomas Randall. Thomas and Christopher together sold "Randall's Range" to John HARWOOD in 1710.[15a] On 13 November 1715 Thomas, with Hannah consenting, conveyed 100 acres of it on the north side of the Patapsco, to William HAMILTON. On 19 February 1711 Thomas conveyed 100 acre "Rich Land" and 140 acre "Addition" to George OGG, again with Hannah consenting. On 27 November 1712 Thomas, with Hannah's consent, conveyed 221 acre "Tom's Choice" to John GILL, carpenter. On 5 November 1717 Anthony BALE conveyed 329 acres, the residue of "Stout", to Thomas Randall. On 20 June 1721 Hill SAVAGE (his wife Eleanor consenting) conveyed 150 acre "Spring Garden" to Thomas Randall and William PARRISH with the provision that the Savages "keep harmless" Thomas and William from "a certain testamentary bond" Thomas and William had posted on the estate of Peter BOND of Baltimore County.[16]

Thomas had died by 16 April 1722 when an administrative bond was made in Baltimore County to settle his estate. It was inventoried 1 August 1722 by Benjamin and John HOWARD, with a value was set at £285.0.10. The following year a second inventory was made after debts had been paid. As an indication of the web of credit in a world of inadequate specie and no banks, this second inventory came to £16.18.6.

Received from: Jonas Jones, William Hamond, John MacCarty, William Bond, John Browne, John Hamond.
Payments to: Richard Bennett, Esq. for bill drawn on Mr. William Lovell payable to William Hamilton, Richard Bennett for bill of John MacCarty (runaway) paid to Mr. Phill. Smith, Robert Shankland for a bill payable to John Whips on Mr. John Midford, Mr. Thomas Bond for a bill on Mr. John Midford payable to Mrs. Hannah Teall paid to Mr. Edward Tell, Richard Bennett, Esq. on a bond of William Dowgias, Mr. Lance Todd, William Logsdon assigned to John Moale, John Moale, John Whips, Charles Peirpoint, Madam Rebecca Colegate (executrix of Col. Richard Colegate from deceased as bondsman on estate of Peter Bond), Mr. Thomas Colemore for bill of William Lovell paid to Mr. Michael Taylor, William Foreman for bill of Mr. John Midford, Phillis Bacon, Mr. Francis Holland, Thomas Addison & Daniel Dulany, Esq., John Israeli.

Hannah's will was signed 23 October 1726. She named her two children, her daughter-in-law Catherine, and her brother-in-law Christopher Randall (to whom she left a ring) his wife Ann (CHEW), and his son Roger. The bond to settle her estate was filed 17 June 1727. The estate was inventoried 20 November 1728 and valued at £43.0.7.[18]

Christopher Randall3, b. ca. 1708; m. Catherine LARKIN. On 20 May 1734 Christopher and Samuel OWINGS (his brother-in-law) agreed to divide "Green Spring". Eight days later Christopher sold 100 acres of his part. Christopher, with his wife Katherine consenting, conveyed "Beale's Purchase" to John MOALE on 5 Dec. 1735. Christopher served as attorney for John BOND of London in 1727/8, and for Mary WOOTON of Exmouth, Devonshire in 1731 and 1732. He is probably the Christopher Randall who with William HAMILTON, Samuel OWINGS, and Nicholas HAILE were named to a commission to build a chapel of ease, St. Thomas Chapel, in 1742. He was Register of that parish in 1744, and a vestryman at St. Thomas Parish in 1741-43, and perhaps also 1771-73.[20] They had the following children:

a) Thomas Randall, b. 11 Jan. 1726;
b) Bale Randall, b. 1 Aug. 1728; d. 20 Oct. 1728.
c) Christopher Randall, 25 Sept. 1729;
d) William Randall, b. 18 Aug. 1731; he joined the Baltimore County Committee of Observation in 1775. The purpose of the committee was to maintain order and prevent social unrest in light of the blockade of British goods. The blockade caused a severe inflation of prices in the Baltimore area, and many businesses went into debt. In addition, a percentage of the sale price of all staple products went to the poor people of Boston, who were suffering under the Intolerable Acts. Merchants, professionals and other prominent citizens patrolled the streets of Baltimore and environs to prevent theft, robbery, looting and arson of property. But by August of 1775, prominent citizens, including Charles RIDGELY, William Randall, Ezekiel TOWSON and Stephen CROMWELL, quit the committee. It is not certain whether their political views were too conservative for the Baltimore rebels, or too radical for conservative Governor Eden.[21]
e) Rebecca Randall, b. 27 Dec. 1733; presumably d. before 5 Dec. 1738.
f) Hannah Randall, b. 27 Oct. 1736;
g) Rebecca Randall, b. 5 Dec. 1738;
h) Nicholas Randall, b. 27 Feb. 1740;
u) Susanna Randall, b. 7 May 1743;
j) Bale Randall, b. 17 Aug. 1745;
k) Larkin Randall, b. 10 June 1749;[22]

Third Generation

Urath Randall3, only surviving daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Bale), was born 1 January, 1713/4, and died 15 December 1793.[23]

She married Samuel OWINGS on 1 January 1729/30 at St. Thomas Parish in Baltimore County. It was her sixteenth birthday. They resided on 286 acre "Green Spring Punch" in Baltimore County, and owned additional land in the County.[24] Samuel died in 1775.

Urath appeared in the first United States census, 1790, as head of her household in Upper Black River Hundred, Baltimore County. It consisted of one white male over the age of sixteen, two white females (one of them Urath herself) and twelve enslaved people.

Urath died in her eightieth year on 15 December 1793. In her will, signed 26 November 1792 she gave her son Samuel his father's cane, and her grand daughter Urath Owings twelve pictures. (Were they paintings? Who was the artist? I wonder what has become of them over the generations?) She mentioned her children: Samuel, Thomas, Richard, Rachel STEVENSON, Urath LAWRENCE, and Hannah STONE; and some of her grandchildren: Urath CROMWELL, Urath Owings, Ruth Owings (widow of Samuel), Urath Stevenson, Elizabeth Lawrence, Deborah HOWARD, and Beal Owings (son of Christopher). A codicil on 6 January 1793 added 14-year-old granddaughter Martha Stone.[25]

Bale Owings4, b. 9 May 1731; d. 30 Dec. 1781; unmarried; received 90 ac. in Balt. Co. from his father in 1772-73.[27]

Samuel Owings, b. 17 Aug. 1733; d. 1803; m. 6 Oct. 1765 Deborah LYNCH (d. 1810), daughter of William Lynch (d. 1751); received 250 ac. in Balt. Co. from his father in 1772-73; res at "Ulm" near Reisterstown Rd. (now Owings Mills), St. Thomas Parish, Balt. Co. Samuel was Anglican, a miller, planter, merchant, and land speculator. He was lauded as the "hydraulic expert of his time" and built at least 3 mills at Gwynn's Falls in Balt. Co. Served in the Lower House 1771, and 1786-87. His estate included 24 slaves, 248 oz. of plate, 177 chocolate pans, saw mills, grist mills, coopers' houses and shops, warehouses, bank stock, land along the Ohio River, and at least 5,200 acres in Balt. Co.[28]

Urath Owings, b. 26 June 1738; m. 28 Jan. 1762 Benjamin LAWRENCE; received 257 ac. in Balt. Co. from her father in 1772-73.

Thomas Owings, b. 18 Oct. 1740; d. 23 Aug. 1822; m. 27 Nov. 1760 in St. Thomas Parish Ruth LAWRENCE, daughter of Levin Lawrence, Jr. Ruth d. 27 July 1827. He was given "Timber Level" by his father, and resided in his house there, called "The Meadows", in Soldiers' Delight Hundred, Balt. Co. Had a fulling mill in the Garrison Forest, one mile from Owings' Mill. On 6 June 1776 he was commissioned a first lieutenant in Capt. Alexander Well's Battalion of Soldiers' Delight Militia. In Aug. 1777 he was promoted to Capt. He is said to have been at the Battle of Brandywine and at Valley Forge. They had 12 children.[29]

Christopher Owings, b. 16 Feb. 1744/5; d. 12 Jan. 1783; m. Elizabeth LAWRENCE, daughter of Levin Lawrence, Jr. and sister of Thomas Owings' wife; received 400 ac. in Balt. Co. from his father in 1772-73. Elected to represent Soldiers' Delight Hundred on the Balt. Co. Committee of Correspondence on 16 Jan. 1775. He was commissioned Capt. in Soldiers' Delight Battalion of Militia in June 1776.[31]

Richard Owings, b. 16 July 1749; d. 20 Jan. 1819; m. 1774 Ruth Howard WARFIELD, daughter of Dr. Joshua Warfield (d. 1769) a "practioner of physic" and mill owner and his wife Rachel (Howard) (1732-1792), daughter of Ephraim Howard, apparently no relation to our Howards. Richard was a farmer, miller, and merchant who took over the Warfield mill after Joshua's death. Holland says he bought his father-in-law's mill at Simpsonville on the Middle Patuxent River in 1795 and changed its name to Owings Mill. The village became known as Owingsville. His house, built in 1776, still stands. Richard signed the oath of fidelity 6 June 1776 and was appointed Capt. of Soldiers' Delight Battalion of the Baltimore Co. Militia, fought in the Revolution, and resigned 1779. Richard served in the Lower House in 1789, 1790. His estate was valued at $69,139.08 and included 25 slaves, $52 worth of silver, over $1000 worth of flour at the mills. The estate was not settled until 1842, with a final balance of $10,468.33, not including his wife's estate and various bequests that were paid out.[33]

Hannah Owings, b. 27 Jan. 1750/1; m (1) 30 June 1771 William COCKEY; m (2) 18 April 1778 Capt. William STONE; received 223 ac. in Balt. Co. from her father in 1772-73.

To continue the story of this family, go to the Owings page, and then the Stone page.

If you have additions or corrections to this web page, I would be delighted to hear from you. Contact me via e mail at .

The Randalls and their colonial Maryland relatives and ancestors are described in The Southern Connection: Ancestors of Eleanor Addison Smith Holliday Price. It delves into the social system, economics, religion, and politics that developed in colonial Maryland. The white elite considered themselves the pinnacle of civilization, all the while their wealth and power were dependent upon a horrifically brutal racist enslavement system. This hardback print-on-demand book provides the context for the Randall's colonial Maryland plantation elite ancestors. The book is available at lulu.com. Click on the title, then on "preview" to see the table of contents and a few sample pages. The price is the cost of printing and binding, plus shipping. I make nothing on it.

This page was posted
3/29/2004, and updated most recently on 12m/2/2014.

Notes

The full bibliographical citation is given the first time a source is mentioned, but is not repeated each time that source is cited. Scroll up til you find the first mention and there you will find the complete citation.

Skinner, Abstracts of the Inventories and Accounts of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, 1:47; Robert W. Barnes, comp., Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1989), 528; Robert Barnes, The Green Spring Valley: Its History and Heritage, Vol. 2: Genealogies (Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society, 1978), 2:82. The first law concerning marriage in Maryland, in 1640 required simply that banns be publicly posted three days before the proposed wedding, or that a sworn statement be filed in the county court that neither individual was "an apprentice, or ward, or precontracted, or within the forbidden degrees of consanguinity, or under the government of parents or tutors". A second law, passed in 1658, would have governed the action of Christopher and Johanna. It stipulated that anyone desiring to marry had to apply publicly for a marriage certificate either in court while it was in session or during a church service. If nobody raised objections, then three weeks later the county commissioners or a minister or pastor could issue a certificate authorizing the marriage. Failure to post banns was subject to a penalty of 1000 lbs. of tobacco for the bride and groom, or 5,000 lbs. for the magistrate or minister, half of which went to the informer. Raphael Semmes, Crime and Punishment in Early Maryland (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 1938). 197-98.

Skinner, Abstracts of the Inventories and Accounts of the Prerogative Court of Maryland, vol. 1720-1724, 42, citing Lib. 9, fol. 118. Barnes gives the value of the estate as £19.18.6 plus £5.18.6, inventoried 1 August 1722, Baltimore County Families, 1659-1759, 528. The list of receipts and payments is from http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mrmarsha&id=I88256, seen 1/17/2013.

Monty Phair, A Brief History of Randallstown, http://www.bcplonline.org/info/history/hist_ra_history.html.

Edward C. Papenfuse, Alan F. Day, David W. Jordan, and Gregory A. Stiverson, A Biographical Dictionary of the Maryland Legislature, 1635-1789 (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979) 2 vols., 2:627. Reamy and Reamy, comps., St Thomas Parish Registers: 1732-1850, 2, 8. See also S. M. Randall-Friday's webpage, "Randall Family Ancestry". The author is frustrated by people taking her or his data without attribution, and so the page no longer lists anything but names.

Biog. Dic. of Md. Legis., 2:625-27; Celia M. Holland, Old Homes and Families of Howard County, Maryland, with Consideration of Various Additional Points of Interest (Privately printed, 1987), 329. There is a photo of the house on p. 329. It stands on part of the old tract named "White Wine and Claret". Warfield, The Founders of Anne Arundel and Howard Counties, 389-90.